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Consumer advocates and businesses are fuming over a provision tucked into the state budget bill
that would allow natural-gas utilities to charge customers for a potentially wide array of
environmental cleanup expenses.

Republican legislators inserted the plan following a push from Duke Energy and Columbia Gas
of Ohio. It is now part of the budget bill awaiting Gov. John Kasich’s signature.

Lawmakers sought to ease concerns by agreeing to a series of changes to the proposal. But a
miscommunication with Statehouse staff members means that the revised version is not the one that
passed.

As a result, almost everyone agrees that the plan that sits on the governor’s desk is too
broad in what it allows and will require a follow-up measure in the next few months.

“When you talk about environmental remediation of properties that the gas companies own, God
knows what that includes,” said Dave Rinebolt, executive director of Ohio Partners for Affordable
Energy, a group that works on behalf of low-income consumers.

Also among the critics of the provision as it stands is the Ohio Energy Group, a coalition of
some of the state’s largest businesses.

Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, a key supporter of the plan, confirmed that the wrong version
ended up in the budget, and said he will work to fix it when the Ohio General Assembly
reconvenes.

“We will be looking to make those changes as soon as we can,” said

Natural-gas utilities initially asked for the proposal because they want the law to clearly
allow the companies to charge customers for cleanup of certain polluted sites, subject to a
case-by-case review by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The companies say the law is not
clear enough on this point.

Specifically, Duke Energy wants to charge customers $65.3 million to clean up two “
manufactured gas” plants. The gas plants are a remnant of a time when companies would make natural
gas from coal and use it to produce electricity. The plants date back to the 1800s and have long
since stopped being used. Various companies left behind about 200 polluted sites across the state.

However, the version that passed does not limit the changes to manufactured-gas sites. It
says the new rules may be applied to any “real property” that “is or was used in the provision of
public utility service.” That could cover just about any gas company asset.

While some critics say the plan is too broad, electric utilities have suggested it is not
broad enough. They would like the new rules to apply to them, but found little support, Seitz said.

The proposal, less than a page long, is part of a budget bill is hundreds of pages.